Erie man, 32, charged in FBI sting with trying to meet with minor

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The FBI has charged a 32-year-old Erie man with using text messages with a prostitute to arrange to have sex with a person the man thought would be an 11-year-old girl.

The FBI said the defendant, Douglas E. Melter, also planned to take pornographic photos of the girl.

The prostitute -- a woman in her 20s -- never produced the girl, but cooperated with the FBI and the Erie and Millcreek police in a sting operation that ended with the man's arrest in Millcreek on Tuesday.

Millcreek police stopped Melter's car as he was leaving the location where the meeting with the 11-year-old girl and the prostitute was supposed to take place, the FBI alleged in the criminal complaint.

Melter, of the 1200 block of West Seventh Street, was charged with two counts of criminal solicitation related to what the FBI said he intended to do with the 11-year-old girl. He is accused of using interstate commerce -- a cell phone -- to induce a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity and with inducing or enticing a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct to produce child pornography.

"Been selling them for years," Melter, referring to child pornography, is accused of telling the prostitute in one of the messages. "Had 6 different models so far ... file sent overseas the second shoot is done then the harddrive is destroyed."

Melter also told the prostitute he would pay as much as $500 for each girl he is able to photograph. The prostitute at one point texted him a photo of a clothed girl the prostitute said was 11.

Melter appeared in federal court in Erie on Wednesday before U.S. Magistrate Susan Paradise Baxter, who ordered him held in prison until a detention hearing Jan. 25. Assistant U.S. Attorney Christian Trabold is prosecuting the case.

Melter, who the FBI said has a prior record for indecent assault of a person younger than 16, faces a maximum sentence of life on both federal counts. His lawyer, Kenneth Bickel, said Wednesday that he could not yet comment on the details of the case.

The FBI continues to investigate, the lead agent, Michael Thoreson, said in the criminal complaint. He said he searched Melter's residence on Tuesday and seized a computer, a handgun -- which he said Melter cannot legally possess because of his prior record -- "and seven pairs of young girls underwear, most of which were found behind Melter's bed stand."

Thoreson in the complaint said the state police computer crime lab, in Edinboro, is analyzing Melter's computer.

The authorities started investigating Melter on Dec. 28, when the prostitute went to the state police to complain about a man she said wanted her to supply underage girls to be photographed naked or nearly naked, according to the criminal complaint. Because the woman said the conduct was occurring in the city of Erie, the state police referred the case to the Erie police. Erie police detectives interviewed the prostitute and examined some of the text messages on Jan. 3.

The complaint said the Erie police contacted the District Attorney's Office, which decided to refer the case to the U.S. Attorney's Office and the FBI.

The prostitute, who is not named in the complaint, told investigators she had sex with Melter on Dec. 20. Starting on Dec. 27, according to the complaint, the prostitute and Melter exchanged text messages in which he continued to ask her to find minor girls. The prostitute -- who the FBI said did not ask to be paid for helping law enforcement -- continued the texts with Melter after meeting with investigators, setting up the sting. The prostitute was not charged.